On April 30, 1993 Adam Opel, the German subsidiary of General Motors, asked public prosecutors in Darmstadt to investigate its suspicions of industrial espionage by Volkswagen.
The suspicions were occasioned by the sudden departure of Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua from his position as GM's global purchasing director in Detroit, his arrival in Wolfsburg as VW's purchasing and production director, the disappearance of secret and confidential documents from his office in Detroit, the sudden departure of six of Lopez's associates from GM/Opel and arrival at VW, and reports of night-long document shredding by two of these associates in Wiesbaden.
On May 25th the prosecutors announced that they had enough evidence to launch an investigation.
David Herman, chairman of Adam Opel, accused Lopez of using GM secrets in developing plans for a VW car plant in Spain.
Ferdinand Piech, chairman of VW, denied having any confidential GM documents.
In July the U.S. Justice Department revealed that it was investigating the case and German investigators in Darmstadt announced that boxes recovered in Wiesbaden from an apartment occupied by two of Lopez's colleagues contained secret plans for a new GM mini-car.
Over the next fifteen months Dorothy Holland carried out the German investigation accumulating a mountain of evidence, but by October 1984 no charges were made.
Meanwhile U. S. officials pursued possible mail and wire-fraud charges, but had problems getting evidence gathered by the German investigation.
The prospect was for more delay, more frustration for GM and relief for VW.
